Case unloader



Sept. 2,1952 7 E. ARDELL 2,609,109

CASE UNLOADER Filed May 12, 1948 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR E 06 AV?fi/FDEL L BY flduaal M H/ ATTORNEYS Sept. 2, 1952 E. ARDELL, 2,609,109

CASE UNLOADER Filed May 12, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Z I INVENTOR ED 619/?14/?05 l L BY IZMQL, M4 Mfuflm ATTORNEYS Sept. 2, 1952 E. ARDELL2,609,109

CASE UNLOADER Filed May 12, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 EDG/Qf? HHDELL BY mgama dafi mom H S A'ITORN EYS Patented Sept. 2, 1952 case UNLOADEREdgar, .Ardell; Middletown 001111., assignor, by mesneassignments, toEmhart Manufacturing Company, a corporation of. Delaware ApplicationMay-12, 1948',v Serial. No. 28,721

This invention relates to apparatus ,for removing or-unloading-articlesfrom cell cases. More particularly, it; relates to unloading containerssuch as jars, bottles; cans and the like from shippingcases.

usually packed in these cases such articles are 'placed'in individual.pockets or cells formed by -partitionsconsisting of parallel sheets ofcorrugat'ed. board; or similar, material appropriately slittediandfitted: together at right angles to one another. To be effective inpreserving the articles from damage, the jars, bottles, or the likeshould approximately fit the. pockets orcells so as-to: preventthemfrom: shifting. Consequently, when thev chargeyof'articles is liftedout of the case the-partitions: tend to adhere to the charge soz-that.it is necessary to prevent theirremoval in: order to retain. them. inthe case.

The presentinvention relates still'more particularly to. improvements inthe shipping case unloading. apparatus which is the subject of pendingapplication Serial No. 573,802, filed January 20, 1945:, by Paul E.Fischer and Edgar Ardell, and assigned to the same assignee asv thepresent application. In that apparatus the articles. are lifted. out ofthe shipping cases by means of a lifting head having. individual articlelifting deviceswhich on the descent of the lifting head. pass between,parallel spaced rails and after gripping: the articles. raise thembetween these rails to a position above the. same, after which the:rails. are shiftedislightly to. a position beneath: the respective.rows. of: articles, and; the articles;aresv deposited: thereon and. movealong therailsoutof the apparatus While this; apparatus: has: beenoperated suc cessfullmisahas'beena found that .thereis a tendency under.certain: conditions for individual oversized; articles to become.jammed. between the railsvas they are liftediout of "the. case. One ofthe objects: of the: present invention. is, therefore; to; overcome;thisgdifiiculty and .provide. a construction for unloading apparatuswhich is capable t unloading articles; which: may. vary considerablytheir. lateral; dimensions.

11,12; the; apparatus as. heretofore constructed; the partitioningdevices. were stripped from=the chargeofiarticleaby the rails used inthat apparatus and. betweenwh-ich the articles were 1531158111,;theypresent. apparatus,v where rails are.,e1im-.inated,;considerable-.difi'iculty has been encountered: imdevising means. forretaining the partitions in; the case: when: the;- charge. is:- removed.Another object of the present invention, thereforB.-.-.is o; providega:particular form strip- 9 Claims. 1 (01. 214-11) ping mechanism whichwilloperate on the-parti' tioning devices to prevent their removal alongwith the charge. Y a

The apparatus of the present invention intended to handle: containerswhich. are either empty or filled. The accompanying drawings illustratethe invention by way of examplein connection with an apparatusforunloading empty containers, and the invention will be understood froma consideration of the following description taken in connection withthese drawings. In these drawings: I

Fig. 1: is a view of the apparatus in vertical transverse section, thelocation of the section. be:- ing indicated by broken line l--I of Fig.3;.

Fig. 2 is a view of the apparatus in-sideselevae tionlooking fromthelefttojFig. 1; 1

Fig. 3 is a view in horizontal section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; r r

Fig. 4: is a view in central vertical section taken on line 44 of Fig.3;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but withthe platen sections closed.and the containers: re.- moved from the caseand deposited upon. theplaten;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section drawn-to. amen-1 larged scale showing thedetails of. certain parts of Fig. 4;;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the stationary stripping device which isarranged at the trailing orrear end of the case;

Fig. 8. is a similar view of themovable strip ping devicewhich isarranged at the leading or front end of the case; and

Fig. 9 is a plan view to illustrate the support and operation of theseparable sections of the platen.

Referring now to these drawings and first to Figs. 1-3, the cases filledwith containers, such as wide mouth jars i, move into and through theapparatus along a case guideway consisting of'a' flat horizontal table2, and twosideguide bars 3. The cases are moved successively alongtable? from right to left by means of a pair'of case ,fiight chains twhich move intermittently, as will be laterdescribed, and which areprovided with spaced flight bars 5.

In their movement along table 2, each case stops at an unloading.position which is vertically beneath a pair of laterally shiftableplatensec: tions 6 and 1. Together, sections 6 and 1 form; when shiftedto their central or closed position "as shownin Figs. 5 and 9, a singlehorizontal platenmember on which the jars i, afterpreimovalfromthe case,are deposited to. be swept 3 out of the apparatus by means of spacedflight bars 8 carried by a pair of article flight chains 9.

Article flight chains 9 are arranged parallel with and above the caseflight chains 4. Each of these flight chains travels within a supportingmember in the form of a channel bar II] open at one side as shown inFig. 1.

The jars I are lifted out of the case while the platen sections 6 and Iare in the open position (Figs. 1, 3 and 4) by means of a verticallyreciprocating lifting head which is indicated generally by the referencenumeral I I. Lifting head II is provided with individual lifting or jargripping devices I2, one for each jar in the shipping case. In thisinstance there are twenty-four jars arranged in four rows of six each sothat the lifting devices I2 have the same arrangement. These liftingdevices project downwardly from a cross supporting member or carriage I3(Fig. 1) which is arranged to slide vertically on posts I4 arranged as apart of the apparatus frame on opposite sides of the machine. CarriageI3 is raised and lowered by means of a pair of connecting rods I5,pivoted at their upper ends to carriage l3 and at their lower ends tocranks I6 which project from the outer faces of a pair of crank discsII. Crank discs II are keyed to the opposite ends of a shaft I8 which isrotated intermittently one revolution at a time as will be describedmore in detail later on. The individual jar gripping devices I2, eachconsist of a pair of internally operating jaws I9 arranged to engage theinternal shoulder below the neck of the jar as shown in Fig. 1 when thejaws are expanded. Jaws I9 are pivoted respectively on shafts 26 and Hwhich extend lengthwise of the lifting head and are interconnected bythe pinions shown in Fig. 1 so that a rocking movement of shaft 26 inone direction causes shaft 2| to rock in the opposite direction. Each ofthe four shafts across the lifting head is provided with an actuatinglever 22 (Figs. 1 and 4) which is keyed adjacent the shaft end and whichis rocked. by a laterally movable rod 23 with which the forked upperends of levers 22 are engaged. Rod 23 is actuated by the rockingmovement of a vertical shaft 24 to which a short arm 25 is slidablykeyed. Arm 25 engages the end of rod 23 to move it toward the right asshown in Fig. 1, the rod being. moved toward the left by means of aspring (not shown). Vertical shaft 24 is actuated to cause the grippingor release of jars I by jaws II! by means of a cam (not shown)associated with the lower end of shaft 24. Reference may be had to theprior application, above mentioned, for further details of theconstruction and operation of this mechanism.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1 and 9, the supporting andoperating mechanism of platen sections 6 and 1 will be described. Theseplaten sections are supported at their opposite ends by means of twobars 26 and 21. Each platen, however, is secured to only one of thesebars. Thus, platen section 6 is secured by the rivets shown in Fig. 9 tobar 26, but the opposite ends of the platen merely rest upon bar 21 sothat sliding movement between these parts can occur. Conversely, platensection I is secured, as by rivets, to bar 21 and the opposite end ofthis platen merely rests upon and can slide with respect to bar 26.

Bar 26 is supported at its opposite ends by pivotal engagement withtheupper ends of two arms 28 and 28-a, while bar 21 is similarlysupported'by means of two other arms 29 and 29-a. These four arms, 28,28-a, 29, and. 29-a are loosely mounted for pivotal movement on twoparallel rods or shafts 38 and 3II-a arranged on opposite sides of theapparatus. Fixed shaft 30 is supported by the outer ends of two doublebracket members 3| which are bolted, or otherwise secured to the machineframe. Shaft 38-a is supported in a similar way at the outer ends ofdouble brackets 3I-a.

The platen sections 6 and I are shifted laterally in and out from theclosed position of Fig. 9 to the open position of Fig. 1 by the rotationof two cams 32 and 32-a which are pinned to a common operating shaft 33as shown in Fig. 1, this shaft being appropriately journalled in theside frame members of the apparatus. The outline of these cams may beseen in Fig. 2 from which it will be seen that their rotation will causethe cam follower rollers 34 and 34-a at the tops of the cams to rise andfall. These rollers are pivoted on short arms 35 and 35-a which arepinned onto shafts 36 and 36-a which are parallel respectively withshafts 30 and 38-11 and are supported for rocking movement at the innerends of the two pairs of double brackets 3| and 3I-a. Also pinned onshafts 36 and 36-a are two additional short arms 31 and 3'I-a whichextend in the opposite direction from actuating arms 35 and 35-a and towhich are attached the lower ends of tension springs 38 and 38-a whichmaintain follower rollers 34 and 34-a in engagement with cams 32 and32-a. The upper ends of these springs are secured to the machine frame.

As follower rollers 34 and 34-a move downwardly during the rotation oftheir respective cams, shafts 36 and 36-a are rocked in oppositedirections simultaneously thereby causing the two platen actuating arms39 and 39-a to move simultaneously toward one another, these arms beingpinned respectively to actuating rock shafts 36 and 36-a. Returning nowto Fig. 9, actuating arm 39 is operably connected to platen section 6,its upper end being pivoted at 46 to a short bar 4| which is secured tothe underside of platen section 6 adjacent supporting bar 26. In asimilar way actuating arm 39-a is pivoted at 4Il-a to a bar 4I-a whichis secured beneath platen section I. Hence, as the cams 32 and 32-.arock shafts 36 and 36 :1 in one direction, the platen sections 6 and Iare shifted laterally from the open position of Fig. 1 to the closedposition of Fig. 9, and vice versa.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 the driving mechanismfor the apparatus includes a modified Geneva gear mechanism by means ofwhich shaft I8 is rotated intermittently through a single completerevolution to cause, through crank discs I1 and connecting rods I5, thelowering and raising of the lifting head I I to remove a charge ofarticles from the container at the unloading position. This modifiedGeneva gear mechanism is illustrated and described in detail in thepreviously mentioned pending application to which reference may be hadfor a complete disclosure. However, in Fig. 2, an outline of thismechanism has been illustrated from which its operation will beapparent. It is suificient to state that the shaft 42, which is drivenat a comparatively slow speed from an electric motor and a reductiongearing (not shown) rotates continuously, and during slightly more than/3 of each revolution imparts a complete revolution to shaft I8, shaftI8 remaining stationary during the remainder of the revolution of shaft42.

It will be understood that a complete cycle of andi 148m; Likewise:theatwo end: lfiaps-i- 46: and

4fi+atzare held: by: means; ofuarsingle.ataut: wire-149 which-sis.-:arranged lengthwise: of; the :center; of thecase; Therearrstationary? stripping: device which.isrindicatedibyr-numeral 50;:which. serves tor'engage ithBiCI'j-SSCIOSS "partitions I-S I cand retainthem: in-tthe case r while; the :article: being removed therefromisesupported bye-the samea meanswhich is used; to=' support thesrearBands of rods; and wire" 49. This isshown imdetail inFighfi; Ex:-tending crosswise of the apparatusvbetweentits sideuframemembersuare twospace'd'nparalle'l rods 52.(Figs; 2; 4; and; '6.) andisecuredtotthese;rods oneach side on the; case guideway: are? two bracket members 53 Acrosswise;supporting?memben-541ds fixed: at its-opposite: ends {tobrackets: 53 ibyrpairs-ot screws 55,2the formation ofzbracketssfikabeingqsuch as-to place the-wider portion of support ill-at:arr-angle of about thirty degreesto" the: horizontal for a purpose-whichwill. appeanlater; SupportLMLis provided along: its left'edge with anarrow-thorn zontal- 'portionifiiiand the rear stripping device 50is:secured: to this narrow portion: 561 bya series of'zfive rivets 51..Device 50 as-shown in; Fig;- '7; comprises-nah metal plate..5.8 having aseries; of holes toirecei-ve-the rivets; 5'11." andpreferably hav= ings'an. upturned rear-portion whiclr liesxagainst the upper. suriaceofsupport was shown inEig; 6;

Aiseries-sofi IT-shaped :strippingfingers 59!. pro-*- jectiromatheforwanduedge:oftplatez58. These may; for example, be weldedr'tothe-lower surface of? this plate; TI'IGHRCIOSSFbHII' portions 60 weredisposed'ia distance fromrthe-ed'ge ofziplate 58 which corresponds:with; thewidtlimftl-ie pockets or: cells fmfid 1 by the. crisscross;partitions; 5,] L Grosschar: portions 7511251143, intended toaabelocatedapproximately over the:crosswise: rpartition tstrips',buttheyzalsosserve to engage the lengthwise par tition strips-1 should 2these strips not register die rectly below thew fingers 59becauseaofivlateral 70f. :the case in guideway; vorother wise-i.

Theirighthand'end 'ofi wirerASI: which .servesrto holdrthe end :flapsp.openrisa' carried: beneatha sup+v port 54, thence upwardlyaandaanchored:insan aperturerim asblockz v6 l:- which is fastened: at the centen 'otfsupportrilt two-sscrewsras shown in Figs. 3 and 6. A screw 62serves;.ith"securetthe wirezimlplacen Thea; ream; endsofttheetwo halfronnde'bars: 41h and: 4.8%. which" serveeto; hold :the side flaps 4;!:andasfleaein; position are seeured to theme/mow :forwardtportioru 56501 support-:5 thy means: of rivets: 634+ which are linewith: theseriesot'rivetstizlz (Eigfiis.

- 4fi-r'and".LErlLEZOPGHLiS :securedttonitighteningzdee viceiasishown.imEigsr31. and-i.4.= A short'winding 11011155}; ,oneaendofzwhichzis' squaredttcwreceiversai wrench;issmountedcima::suitable.s.bracketi.which inzturnzis; mounted;atatheicenterof:anothencross bar 61-which =is securedi at: itsendsto.,thc;.'f1tame; Winding rod: -,66 -,-'has. ,a; crossg-apertufiezat:itstcene ten to receiveth'e; end off-wire, 49zasushown in- Fig. 4. Uponturning-thawed witlua wrench. the

wireacan:bestretchedto any-desired; tautnesszandistthenrmaintaineddnrtaut condition by'ztiglitene inga holdingscrewtmInasmuch aspthere. i has; been 1 found: toabek atendencyior';the-edgeorthe forwardzifiapiw ito beipcutz by: its;sliding; movement rin:gcontactr';with the: lower: surface: of:- wire:49; and; because the partitions:- 5] i sometimes; are. left; projectingslightly: above the top of: thezcasea after; theereie movaisof ithe;charge ofitjars-therefrom, armow able: partitiomstripping: deviceeh'a s.beerirprovided afiithee-leading or :forWardendzofthe case at theunioadingmosition; ThisViorwardimovableastrim ping device-isindicatedazgenerallysby numerati'fifl and riski-ll'ustratedzina Fig; 8separatezfromiythe? re.- mainder or the: apparatus. The 'wm'ovem'ent-rotthis-;devicew ispreferably an: angular tilting; movementz'sorthatiit-L-may serveato: urgethe'protruding p rtitionsiback into the oaseas,the-;ca"se leaves the?) unloading: position: Accordingly; this stripping; device: comprises-1a series; of: fishaped His-man be:;welded:to;-triangularly shaped:v plates 14 which in turn may be riveted,asaindicatedi-in Fig." 8; tothelowerrfiat'su-rface of central p'or-'tmmia.

Eorwardrr stripping." device" 69" is: tiited to its raised :position" ofFig; 5'- pri-orztov the' movement ofzther caseto: the unioa'dingiposition beneath platenzsections 6; 1,; the platens; closing: s'iml'fltaneously withrthevliftingl-ofi the sizi i ivpirrg= device: Then; after'thepcase" is in: position; the platens open:.-:a;nd stripping: device563-. is. simultaneously lowered-1 V Thisamovement. is" efiectediby therock ing movement :of: shaft 36 whi1ch= is imparted rsy cam 32 to shiftplaten 6 to and from-its open-po sition. This mechanism is shown morepa'rtieularly imFigs: 2 and: 3', and comprises: an arm whichistpinnedato the end of shaft 12 which -is adiacent; shafitfifit A-rm: Mis actuated: angularlygshapeds linkKFig; 2 which is: pivotedatpitszuppeirendltoithiszarmaand at i-t's l0wer=end isrpivota1-ly-;connected between twozshor t fingers 16;; 1 and-:9) whichwproiectfrom-a collar T1 fixed to the end of shaft 36. Hence, as shaft 38isrocked by therotation of cam'32 to shift platen 6 from closed to openposition the two short fingers 16 arerocked upwardly and communicatethis movement through'link 15 to arm 14 which causes stripping device 69to move downwardly. At'the opposite shifting of platensection 6stripping device 69 is raised.

The sequence of operation of this apparatus is as follows. Assuming thata charge has just been lifted out of a case atthe unloading position,the platen sections 6 and 1 close by the operation of cams 32 and 32-11and simultaneously with the closing, as'just described, the forwardermovable stripping device 69 rises from'the position shown in Fig. 4 tothat shown in Fig. 5. A step movement of the intermittently movable caseflight chains-4 now takes place and causes a flight 'bar 5 to move thepreviously emptied case from the unloading position toward the left andto bring up from the right a succeeding full case to this position,beneath the plates 6 and I, this case being shown in the drawings.

The next action is the simultaneous opening of platens 6 and I and thelowering of stripping device 69 to the position shown in Fig. 4. Thedriving member of the Geneva gear mechanism, shown in Fig. 2, nowengages the driven member of this mechanism which is keyed to shaft [8,and causes a single rotation of this shaft thereby lowering the articlelifting head H into the case, this head passing between the twoopened'platen sections Sand 1 and the lifting jaws entering the mouthsof the containers I. At the bottom of. the stroke of carriage l3 andlifting head ll, vertical actuating shaft 24 for these jaws causes themto expand into the position shown in Fig. 1 and grip the jars. On theupward stroke the jars are raised out of the case and at the completionof this stroke platens 6 and 1 again close and the forward strippingdevice 69 again rises.

The gripping jaws 19 are then actuated to release the jars onto theplaten sections. Then the article flight chains 9 and the case flightchains 4 advance simultaneously, a flight bar 8 of chains 9 moving thearticles along the platen sections toward the left onto a scufi plate18, and thence to a conveyer 19 by which the jars are carriedto the nextoperation, either a washing or a filling machine. As the jars move alongscuff plate- I8, they may be guided in rows by means of a series ofguide bars 80. The simultaneous movement of the case flight chains 4brings another case into the unloading position and the cycle repeats.

By means of the apparatusof this invention there has been provided amechanism which operates rapidly and reliably to remove jars, bottlesand other containers or articles from shipping cases, and to operateupon the cases without cutting or otherwise damaging the flaps or thecrisscross partitioning devices.

It will be understood that changes may be made in the apparatusparticularly described above without departing from-the spirit of theinvention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for unloading articles from shipping cases, a caseguideway, a horizontal platen disposed above the case guideway andhaving separable sections forming together a substantially flat surfaceto receive the articles, means for,lifting articles out of a case on thecase, guideway and depositing them upon the platen, means operable toshift the separable sections of said platen laterally apart a distancenot less than the width of the inside of the case to allow the operationof said lifting means between said'section's in lifting the articles andto close said sections'together prior to the depositing operation ofsaid lifting means, stripping means operable to strip the cases from thearticles as they are being raised between said platen sections, meansfor advancing the articles off the platen, and means for advancing thecases along the case guideway.

2. In apparatus for unloading articles from shipping cases, a platenhaving a surface for reoeivin articles, a caseguideway, means forlifting articles out of a case on the case guideway and depositing themupon the platen having a substantially flat surface for receiving thearticles. said platen being arranged vertically above the case guidewayand comprising a pair of sections laterally shiftable with respect toone another, means for simultaneously shifting said sections between anopen position for admitting said lifting means between them and a closedposition with their inner edges adjacent the center line of the caseguideway, means for advancing successive cases along said case guideway,stripping means operable to strip the cases from the articles as theyare being raised by the said platen sections and means for sweeping thearticles off the said platen.

3. In apparatus for unloading articles from shipping cases having a caseguideway with a horizontal platen thereabove together with means forfeeding a case along said guideway beneath the platen and a verticallymovable lifting head arranged above the palten and operable to lift atier of articles from the case and deposit them on th platen, the platenbeing made in two separable sections, the improvement which consists inmechanism for supporting and actuating said platen sections c mprisingtwo bars arranged in spaced parallel relation .and supported each on twoequal length pivoted arms, each of said sections being secured to one ofsaid bars and being slidable on the other bar, and means forsimultaneously actuating said bars in oppositedireotions to open andclose said platen sections, respectively to permit the descent of saidlifting means and to receive the articles.

4. In apparatus for unloading articles from partitioned shipping caseshaving a case guide way with a horizontal platen thereabove togetherwith means for feeding a case along said guideway beneath the platen anda vertically movable lifting head arranged above the platen and operableto lift a tier of articles from the case and deposit them on the platen,the improvement whichconsists in providing a stationary stripping memberextending over the rear portion of the case partitions when the case ispositioned beneath said'platen, a vertically movable stripping memberextending over the partitions at the front of said case, and means forraising said forward stripping member during the movement of the caseinto said position.

5. Unloading apparatus as claimed in claim 4 in which the movablestripping member is tilted to raised position.

6. Unloading apparatus as claimed in claim 4 in which the strippingmembers comprise series of T-shaped fingers with the bodies of thesefingers substantially in register with the partitions running one way ofthe case and the bar portions thereof substantially in register with thepartitions running the other way of the case.

7. In apparatus for unloading articles from partitioned shipping caseshaving a case guideway with an unloading station together with means forfeeding a case along said guideway to said station and a verticallymovable lifting head arranged above the platen and operable to lift atier of articles from the case at said station, the improvement whichconsists in providing a stationary stripping member extending over therear portion of the case partitions when the case is positioned at saidstation, a vertically movable stripping member extending over thepartitions at the front of said case, and means for raising said forwardstripping member during the movement of the case into said position.

8. Unloading apparatus as claimed in claim 7 in which the movablestripping member is tilted to raised position.

9. Unloading apparatus as claimed in claim 7 REFERENCES CITED Thefollowing references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,904,720 Douglass Apr. 18, 19331,965,745 Luce et a1 July 10, 1934 2,294,274 Buxbaum Aug. 25, 19422,344,040 Hoke Mar. 14, 1944 2,358,447 Creamer Sept. 19, 1944

